Page 40 of A Kiss of Flame
And then he kissed her.
It was just a brief brush of his lips to hers but it sent sparks through her body. She tore herself free the moment it happened but it was far too late.
Leander sank into the elegant bow that signalled the end of this particular dance and the music fell silent again.
Everything around her went horribly, expectantly still, like the whole court and every visitor there had been waiting for this all along.
Steel hissed against the edge of the scabbard, the unmistakable sound of a sword unsheathing, and the air in the ballroom shivered in expectation.
CHAPTER 20
FINN
Roland looked like he had been carved from stone, but the sword was halfway out of the scabbard already. He was watching Wren and Leander like a hawk. Finn knew the feeling but he himself couldn’t do anything.
Not so the Grandmaster of the Knights of the Aurum. He paused for a long and painful moment before he turned to Hestia, his face unreadable.
‘This is Nightbreaker, Lady Hestia,’ he said calmly, offering her the blade flat across both his hands. ‘Perhaps you remember it. Although you were very young then.’ Hestia laid a hand on its length, her fingers only trembling very slightly.
‘And the Aurum has touched it again, Lord Roland,’ she said softly. ‘It’s stronger than ever. Thank you for showing me this. I understand more clearly now.’
And just like that a drawn sword was explained and a crisis averted. It was all Finn could do not to stare open-mouthed.
Hestia took his arm again, and this time he could feel her trembling, though whether from rage at Leander, fear, or a reaction to the magic imbuing the sword blade he didn’t know. Finn locked eyes with Roland, who nodded curtly, and stepped back. No help was forthcoming there.
But at least he had stopped Leander in his tracks.
‘Well,’ said Lady Ylena. ‘What a display. The wild revels of Sidonia have no place here, Lady Hestia.’
‘Of course not,’ Leander said a little too loudly as he swaggered back towards them. ‘The light forbid anyone enjoy themselves, is that not so?’ He ignored Ylena’s glance of loathing and extended his hand to Hestia this time. ‘Cousin, would you care to dance?’
Hestia sighed, but it was the easiest way for her to get him away from Ylena and the next round of trouble. She couldn’t do anything to punish him here and now, oh, but she would. Finn knew that. And he didn’t care.
Ylena, Sassone and their cohort watched the two of them go. General Gaius gave Finn a curt nod and made his way quietly to the drinks table, dealing with this nightmare in his own way. The rest of the Ilanthian party spread out, laughing, commenting, watching. Finn didn’t want to know what they were doing or why. He knew he ought to care. Anything could happen.
‘Enjoying your reunion, Ward?’ asked Ylena in that icy voice of hers.
He pondered how to reply to that one. She’d enjoy most of the obvious options far too much. ‘There are many other places I would rather be, my lady regent.’
‘I’m sure there are.’ She fanned herself dismissively. ‘But your favoured companion appears to have fled once again. She does run so very quickly when given a chance.’
He scanned the crowd and saw that she was right. Wren had vanished. He wanted to say something, make an excuse for her or plead her history, but it wouldn’t matter to Ylena.
Having an enemy prince treat you like that in front of the whole court… and Ylena still wondered why Wren might run away. The woman expected far too much.
‘She will have to learn that these things happen soon enough,’ Wren’s great-aunt continued. ‘And a marriage might not be the worst thing for her.’
To Leander? Finn’s attention snapped back to Ylena in horror. She couldn’t mean it. She couldn’t possibly think to repeat what happened to Elodie or to engineer some kind of?—
She smiled her thin, cruel smile at him, seeing everything she needed to see. ‘Well,’ she said in softer tones. ‘You’d better go and find her, hadn’t you? Explain some things. And quickly, I think. So lovely to see you, Finnian, and looking every inch the Ilanthian prince once more. Right down to wearing the king’s favour, I see.’
‘Excuse me,’ Finn murmured and stepped away from them. He wasn’t needed there anymore, just a ward to some, a hostage, and too close to the Ilanthians for others. And the brunt of jokes and innuendo.
Where was she? He crossed the room, skirting along the edge of the dancers, and sidestepping anyone who tried to talk to him. He wasn’t even particularly polite about it. He didn’t care.
He found Anselm and Olivier standing by the double doors leading out onto a balcony, alert and on guard, which let him relax for a moment. That was good, wasn’t it? It had to be good. They would keep her safe until they knew what this signified. She had to be outside, far from Leander, although someone ought to be out there with her.
Because Finn didn’t like any of this. Not one bit.